


Stronger Than Justice

by jorlau



Series: Love is... [1]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Adoption, Canon Compliant, Canon Queer Character, Canon Queer Character of Color, Canon Queer Relationship, F/F, F/M, Marriage, Other, Post-Canon, Satobot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-12
Updated: 2015-01-12
Packaged: 2018-03-07 05:57:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 10,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3163820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jorlau/pseuds/jorlau
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It started out as just a missing otter-squirrel. Then it turned out to involve an army of dark spirits, a town full of Equalists, and an orphaned toddler with out-of-control firebending. Korra's got other work to do, though, so Asami buckles down to fix the situation for her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In Which Asami Takes a Quest

**Author's Note:**

> The following basic premises formed the basis for this story:
> 
> -It would be really hard to take care of a very young child who'd already developed bending.  
> -Asami is awesome, but also seriously repressed.  
> -The world needs more Korrasami.
> 
> Korra calling Asami "Satobot" was taken, with permission, from [wegglebots](http://archiveofourown.org/users/wegglebots/pseuds/wegglebots), who writes some adorable Korrasami.
> 
> The fic title comes from a rather creepy Sting song, the chorus of which goes:
> 
> "Love is stronger than justice  
> Love is thicker than blood  
> Love is stronger than justice  
> Love is a big fat river in flood."

_The crackle of flames. Screaming. The sound of running feet. The oppressive feeling of something fundamentally wrong in the world. She knew what was happening, what would happen next, but she was paralyzed, unable to act._

“Asami! Asami, wake up.”

She awoke with a jerk, sweating and panting as though she had been in a fight, completely disoriented. It took her a moment to realize that the voice that had called her back to the real world belonged to her girlfriend, who was gently gripping her shoulders and looking at her with a concerned expresson.

“Korra,” she said, memories trickling back. “I was having a nightmare....”

“I could tell,” the Avatar said, shifting to wrap her arms around Asami and rub her back soothingly. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“I don't know.” Asami shook herself, still trying to separate fact from fiction in her mind, and snuggled up against Korra. She lay silently for a while, breathing deeply and letting herself calm down. Then she said, softly, “my mother.”

“Oh,” Korra squeezed her gently.

“I've had dreams like this before, but not recently. I can hear her screaming and see and hear the fire and the killers running away, and I know what's happening and what comes next, but I can't do anything,” Asami shuddered and continued, softly. “The thing is – I wasn't actually there. I was visiting my grandparents in Yu Dao when she died. I wasn't even there when they found out what had happened; I slept through it. I knew something was wrong the next morning before they told me, but I didn't really understand what had happened for years after.”

“Hm,” Korra's response sounded so noncommittal that Asami wondered if she was falling asleep again.

“It's all right,” Asami mumbled. “It was just a dream.”

“Hey, Satobot,” The familiar, teasing nickname made Asami smile in spite of her mood. Korra's voice was gentle; her fingers lightly stroked across Asami's back. “I know you're tough and in charge and you can probably logic yourself through this just fine, but you don't have to. I'm here for you.”

“I know,” Asami said, slightly ashamed. She sighed. “I just like it better when _I_ take care of _you_.”

“You'll have plenty of chances for that,” Korra's grin, though barely visible in the darkness, was infectious; Asami found herself returning it automatically. “Come on, it's my duty as the Avatar to maintain balance. Where's the balance in you always being the responsible one in our relationship?”

“My responsibility is balanced out by my being in charge,” Asami laughed.

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that,” Korra told her, pressing a kiss to the corner of her mouth.

“I will,” said Asami, and shifted position to return the kiss with interest.

 

“So what've we got today?” Korra asked next morning as she dug enthusiastically into her breakfast. “Bandits? Rogue spirits? Some little kid's lost pet?”

“ _You_ have to meet with five different members of Parliament and the Fire Lord,” Asami told her, somewhat severely. “The rest of us can take care of any lost pets that come up.”

“You're no fun, Asami,” Korra grumbled through a mouthful of bun.

“Well, if that's really what you think, I guess I won't tell you about the fun activities I have planned for after you're done with the session,” Asami said silkily. Korra, recognizing the meaning underlying her girlfriend's tone, choked on the bun, and Asami had to hurry over and pat her on the back.

“All right, I'm sorry, you're fun!” Korra said as soon as she could speak again.

“Too late, I'm not telling you now,” Asami smirked. “You really need to eat more slowly, you know.”

“Aw, come on–“

They were interrupted by a knock at the door. Asami crossed the room to admit a cheerful Bolin, followed by a not-so-cheerful Ikki.

“Morning Asami, morning Korra,” Bolin announced. “Ikki just got here and wanted to see you guys. Sounds like she and Opal have a pretty interesting case right now.”

“I can't leave until this negotiation is done,” Korra told him promptly.

“What's the case?” Asami asked, before Bolin could argue.

“It seemed like an easy one at first – we stopped in this little village near Yu Dao and the mayor's daughter asked us to help find her pet otter-squirrel,” began Ikki. “Now we think the otter-squirrel was stolen by some firebending bandits, who have some kind of deal with a local spirit that makes them really hard to find. I'd ask Jinora to help, but she's kind of on the other side of the world, so....”

“I'll go back with you,” Asami said quickly, before Korra could get too excited about this combination of quests. “I've spent enough time in the Spirit World I should be able to help.”

“I'll go too,” Bolin promised. “I am the best at finding lost pets.”

Asami privately thought that what Bolin was actually the best at was coming up with flimsy excuses to see Opal, but she didn't argue. He was a pretty fun traveling companion, and he might be very useful against bandits, anyway.

“If you don't deal with it before I'm done here, I'll come and join you,” Korra promised, looking sour.

Asami kissed the top of the Avatar's head. “Cheer up, sweetie, there'll be plenty of lost pets for you to find later. Let the rest of us share some of the glory, okay?”

Korra looked up at her and smiled. “Oh, all right. Just keep me posted, okay?”

“I promise,” Asami assured her.

 

_Dear Korra,_

_I hope you're doing well and have resisted the temptation to burn down the whole Earth Parliament. We've got everything more or less under control here right now, but there's something really weird about this town I can't put my finger on. The mayor doesn't seem to want to tell us anything about the bandits, nor do any of the villagers we've talked to so far. I'm starting to wonder whether they're afraid of the bandits, or support them, or maybe some of both. Bolin thinks it's a giant conspiracy, but my guess is they're mostly just scared, and given the creepy vibe from the local spirit wilds, I can understand why._

_I miss you already. I'll try to figure this out and get it fixed as quickly as possible; as I recall, I owe you some fun._

_Love,_

_Asami_

The engineer sighed as she laid down her brush. Bolin, who was sprawling over a nearby couch with his head in Opal's lap, looked up at her curiously. The team were gathered on one of Future Industries' newest experimental airships, relaxing after a frustrating and unproductive day of trying to interrogate the unresponsive locals.

“What's the matter, Asami?” he wanted to know.

“I have a really bad feeling about what's happening here,” Asami admitted. “I don't know how to explain it. I wish Korra were here, but I can't take her away from the work she's doing just because my gut says something's wrong.”

“I feel it too,” Opal said softly. “It feels like a storm coming, but also not a storm.”

“Exactly,” said Asami, relieved.

“A storm that's not a storm?” Bolin said, his eyebrows twisting alarmingly. “Is this like some kind of spirit thing?”

Both women shrugged. Ikki, who was sitting in a corner idly levitating some fruit with puffs of air, looked at them and frowned.

“Maybe I should call Jinora,” she suggested.

“See if you can get in touch with her tomorrow,” Asami said, rising and folding her letter to Korra. “We can try talking to the spirits, anyway. Maybe they'll be more forthcoming than the humans around here. Now, I'm going to send this, and I think we'd better all get some sleep. If today is any indication, we're going to need all our strength tomorrow.”


	2. In Which Asami Makes New Friends and There is an Attack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asami's having nightmares again, so she goes for a walk. It's more eventful than she was expecting.

_The crackle of flames. Screaming. The sound of running feet. Asami's parents stood on the other side of a wall of fire, reaching out their hands towards her, but when she ran towards them they grew farther away, until they vanished behind the roaring curtain of flame. She was alone, and the fire surrounded her._

Asami awoke in a cold sweat, heart thumping, and reached out in the darkness before remembering that she was alone. She was in the strange village, and Korra was far away. Usually, she could deal with their separations, but in this moment she felt sure she could not bear it. She got up quickly and dressed in yesterday's clothes, shoving her feet quickly into her boots and grabbing her equalist's chi-blocking glove as an afterthought. She would feel better for a breath of fresh air.

Creeping out of the airship without waking her teammates was easy. Outside, the air was cool but not unpleasantly so, and the gibbous moon shone brightly, bathing the world in silver-blue light. Asami looked up at it, and wondered idly if Princess Yue ever got lonely in her heavenly home, separated from her people and the loud-mouthed Southern warrior she'd loved. The obvious comparison made Asami feel a twinge of guilt; the moon spirit's loneliness, if she felt it, would be beyond anything the mortal woman could imagine.

Asami set off through the dark village, staying away from the spindly fence that marked the town's boundaries in favor of the narrow band of flagstones that made up the main street. She was just beginning to feel calm enough to return to the airship, and weary enough to be tempted by her cold bunk there, when something small skittered out from between two huts and stood purposely in front of her, squeaking and chattering. She drew up short and looked at the creature. It was a tiny spirit, looking like a cross between an octopus and a rat, glowing faintly magenta.

“Hello,” Asami said softly, kneeling to get closer to the spirit's level. “Is there something I can do for you?”

The spirit studied her with glowing yellow eyes for a moment. When it spoke, its voice was squeaky and faint, and she had to lean forward to hear it. “Warning. Danger for all. You must help, or it will be too late.”

“Too late for what? What's the danger?” Asami's fists clenched reflexively and she leaned further towards the spirit.

The spirit's reply was drowned out by a scream. Asami jumped up and whirled around, nearly losing her balance. At the edge of the village, flames burst from the roof of a small house. Dark figures were moving near the building. It took Asami a moment to realize what she was seeing; a group of humans, masked, riding dark wolflike spirits. She raced towards them, her mind whirring like an engine. Bandits? How had they gotten in? Shouldn't there be guards? Who had screamed?

One of the masked people stepped in front of her; she swung to the side, chi-blocking the bandit in passing. Another shot a blast of fire at her; she dodged and brought the firebender down with a well-placed kick. She could hear shouting from behind her, and a moment later Ikki whizzed past, scattering bandits as she moved among them, a human whirlwind. Bolin followed, hurtling rocks with wild abandon. Asami ducked between two distracted bandits, narrowly avoiding the fangs of their spirit mounts, and raced towards the burning building's door.

As she arrived, the door flew open, and another masked man stepped through it. He was carrying something that wriggled; a moment later, Asami realized with shock that it was a struggling toddler, whose shrill cries were almost drowned out by the noise of battle. As she hesitated – how could she take down the bandit without hurting the child? – flames erupted from the infant's mouth, billowing around its captor's face. The man yelped and lost his grip, and the child broke free and fell.

Instinctively, both Asami and the bandit moved to catch the baby, and collided painfully; Asami's head hit a chest that felt like a stone slab, but she managed to get an arm around the baby's body and pulled sharply away, ignoring the tiny feet flailing against her as well as the puff of fire that shot from a small fist to singe her legs. The bandit grabbed at her and caught hold of her hair, jerking her backwards; she fumbled, freed her gloved hand and swung it around to send a stunning shock through him.

When he fell, she adjusted her grip on the squalling toddler and looked around for an escape route. The burning house was separated from the next building by a narrow alley. She ducked down it, behind the intact building, and down several more alleys before she felt safe enough to slow and soothe her passenger. It was not until she was aboard the airship again, able to look out over the village and inspect the child who was now sobbing in her arms.

This was not the beautiful, pudgy baby of advertisements and great works of art. The orange-gold eyes were soulful, but seemed too big for the pointed, soot-covered face that contained them; the child's wispy hair stood out on all sides, and the shivering body underneath the tattered, scorched nightgown was thin and compact. The baby's diaper was on the verge of falling off, and a quick check confirmed that Asami would not enjoy the consequences if it finished doing so; she looked around desperately, trying to figure out how to handle the situation.

In the end, she carried the baby carefully into her sleeping quarters, set him down on the floor, stripped off his soiled garments, wiping him down as best she could with the cleaner portions thereof before hurriedly cannibalizing two of her shirts to replace the diaper. (The toddler seemed indifferent to these proceedings, making no attempt to resist or escape, for which Asami felt intensely grateful.) She finished by putting another shirt on the child as a sort of robe, rolling up the sleeves as far as they would go. The result would not have won any fashion prizes, but it would have to do.

As she finished dressing her unexpected guest, she heard sounds from other parts of the ship. She tensed, wary of a possible attack, but relaxed as she recognized Bolin's voice.

“Asami? Hey, Asami, are you here?”

Asami gently picked up the baby and headed in the direction of the call. “Right here, Bolin.”

“Where were you?” Bolin demanded. “We saw you fighting those bandits, and then you just disappeared! What's _that_?”

“That's a baby, Bolin,” Opal told him wisely. “Was it – he – she – in the house? Is that why you left?“

“He was, yeah,” Asami said. “One of the bandits was trying to carry him off. I thought it was best to get him away from there.”

“What are you going to do with him?” Ikki wanted to know, looking at the baby's strange attire with a raised eyebrow.

“Find his family,” Asami said, promptly. “If anyone got out of that house–“

“They didn't.” Opal's voice was soft. “The bandits stunned the guards and went straight to that house. The woman who lived there is dead. They were looking for the baby when we left. There wasn't anyone else there.”

“I'll go tell them where the baby is,” Ikki offered, seeing Asami look first at the child in her arms and then towards the exit hatch and correctly divining what she was thinking. “If they want to take him to other family members or something they can come get him. You can stay here and rest.”

“Thanks, Ikki,” Asami said gratefully. She carried the baby, who was still surprisingly cooperative, back to her room and laid him gently in the bed. Then she removed her boots and climbed in beside him, wrapping a protective arm across his tiny body, and was gratified when, after a tense moment, he moved towards her and grabbed on to the front of her jacket with both hands. Afterwards, she was not sure which of them fell asleep first.


	3. In Which Asami Gets Better Acquainted With a Young Gentleman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The baby settles in, and Asami gets a letter from Korra.

She was awakened by the child attempting to climb over her. She sat up, blinking, and prevented him from tumbling over the side of the bunk, lifting him gently down instead. Then she got up, shoved her boots on hurriedly, checked the state of her guest's clothing – dirty – and hunted up another improvised diaper, this time a towel. Changing the baby proved more difficult this time, because he was restive and impatient, but she had not spent so much time visiting Air Temple Island without learning something about how to manage small children. When he was cleaner and Asami had made herself slightly more presentable, she headed into the main airship.

“You're finally up!” Ikki greeted her.

“Have some breakfast,” Opal said, indicating a place already set. “I'll make tea. There's porridge for the baby, he should be able to eat that.”

“Thanks, Opal,” Asami said, sitting. “What have I missed?”

“It looks like that baby is really all alone in the world,” Bolin told her somberly. “We've asked around, but nobody seems to even know what his name is, and nobody's asked to take him. Mayor Chu says he doesn't have any relatives.”

Asami looked at the baby, who seemed content as he examined the pattern on her plate, and bit her lip, wanting to cry. How could anyone be so cruel as to take away everything from a child before he was old enough to even know what he had lost?

“We got him some clothes,” offered Opal. “I think we should be able to look after him until we can figure out what to do, don't you?”

“Of course,” said Asami distantly.

“Also, Korra sent the messenger hawk back,” Ikki told her, holding out a letter. Asami would have liked to read it immediately, but the fidgeting of the infant in her lap told her that wouldn't work very well, so instead she pocketed the letter and devoted herself to feeding her charge and herself. When she had eaten breakfast and the baby had covered himself in porridge and allowed Ikki to whisk him off to be bathed and re-dressed, she finally unfolded the letter and read.

_My dear Satobot,_

_This is so unfair. You're dealing with a spirit-influenced mystery where you'll probably get to kick some serious bandit butt and I'm sitting in a stuffy room listening to Fire Lord Izumi trying to talk these Earth Parliament knuckleheads into agreeing to renew some treaties that, as far as I can tell, don't actually have any effect on either the Fire Nation or the Earth Republic. Izumi's not that bad, but I swear if I have to listen to these two old Earth Parliament guys argue over what kinds of fish Fire Nation ships should be allowed to catch in which part of the Earth Republic's waters ever again I'll do something drastic. Punch them in their heads, maybe. With fire._

_I'm pretty sure I miss you more than you miss me, but we'll have to debate that when you get back. And, yes, you definitely owe me._

_Lots of love,_

_Korra_

Asami grimaced. Unfair seemed to cover situations like babies' parents being murdered for no good reason a lot better than the Avatar having to sit in dull meetings. Still, Korra's light-hearted letter had been written before the traumatic events of the night before, and she wouldn't know about them until Asami told her. Asami tapped the letter on the table, considering. Then she sat down at her desk to respond. In broad strokes she outlined what had happened the night before. While she was debating whether to say she wanted Korra to come and help, she was interrupted by a shriek from Ikki, and the airbender returned holding a crying, half-dressed infant at arm's length and looking thoroughly shocked.

“He firebent at me!” The girl cried.

“Oh, I'm sorry!” Asami stood so fast she nearly knocked over her ink pot. “I forgot to tell you – I don't know what I was thinking. Here, I'll take him.”

“You forgot?” Ikki sounded incredulous. She allowed Asami to take the baby, who breathed a small, fiery cloud that scorched the engineer's hair. He had evidently been in the process of being dressed when he had lost control of his flame; his hair was damp, his face no longer soot-streaked.

“He can firebend already?” Bolin gaped. “How old is he?”

“Between one and two years, I'd say,” Asami hazarded. “And yes, I forgot. It was kind of a rough night, if you remember.”

“Wow,” Bolin breathed, staring at the baby with wary admiration. “And he can breathe fire already – that kid's going to be a seriously scary bender when he grows up.”

“He already is,” muttered Ikki.

Once the baby was calmed and fully dressed, which took an hour and left Asami feeling drained, she sat down to finish her letter to Korra. She decided not to encourage Korra to join them yet. Instead, she closed by promising Korra a really nice present when they were together again in exchange for not punching any government officials in the head with fire and signing off with “all the love in the universe” which she reasoned it would take Korra some effort to top.


	4. In Which They Interrogate Some Bandits and Make Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our heroes attempt to work out what the bandits are doing and how they're controlling the spirits, and decide to send a scouting party to find their hideout.

Later in the day, the group headed down to the town jail to interrogate the captured bandits. Despite their efforts, most of the raiders had escaped; only two were prisoners. After some persuasion from Bolin (which didn't help) and Ikki (which did) the jailer reluctantly allowed Bolin, Opal and Ikki to talk to the captives. Further persuasion and veiled threats ultimately overrode his objections to Asami bringing the baby into the building, and so they all approached the prisoners' cell together, the baby toddling alongside Asami and reluctantly holding her hand.

“All right, you creeps!” Bolin cried in a dramatic tone he probably intended to be menacing. “Let's hear it. Where's your hideout? Why did you steal the mayor's daughter's otter-squirrel? Why did you attack last night?”

Silence. Opal sighed. “Honey, can I talk to you for a moment?” She drew him aside. They had a whispered exchange, during which expressions of wounded pride and indignation flashed across Bolin's face. Asami took advantage of the distraction they afforded to step closer to the cell door and focus her attention on the man who had tried to abduct the baby.

“Why take a child?” she asked.

“He belongs with his own kind,” the man said. His voice was deep and raspy; Asami wondered idly why being a nefarious criminal seemed inversely correlated with voice pitch in men.

“What do you mean, his own kind?” she said, frowning.

“Benders,” he snapped. “You're not from around these parts, so you don't know – or maybe you don't care. This town is full of Equalists,” he spat the word out as though it were poison, and Asami flinched at the sound. “I'll bet they told you he doesn't have any relatives, right? Nobody wants the son of a firebender in their house, even if he might be a non-bender – you and I both know that's not possible – and nobody's going to admit to any relationship with one.”

“But he does have relatives?” Ikki cut in, sounding surprised.

The bandit laughed harshly. “Mayor Chu is his grandfather. Disowned his daughter for marrying a bender, and now he's trying to get rid of her son.”

Mayor Chu, who had specifically told Bolin that the baby didn't have any relatives. Asami felt sick with rage. Equalists. Like her father, who had tried to kill her for siding with her bending friends against his extremist movement. People who hated benders so much that they would completely disown an adorable baby who _might_ have firebending.

The man was still talking. “He won't have any friends, growing up here. If he survives. You should have let me take him.”

“You killed his mother,” Ikki growled.

“And they killed his father. Oh, they say it was an accident. I knew Akio. He was stupid, maybe, but not that stupid.”

Asami couldn't listen any more. She picked up the baby and turned away, leaving her friends to continue the interrogation. She felt dizzy and removed, as though something had broken somewhere inside of her, a loose cog in the machinery of her carefully-managed soul.

The baby seemed to catch her mood; as the jailhouse door swung shut behind them he wrapped his arms clumsily around her neck in what was unmistakably a hug. She stopped and looked at him. Uncomprehending anxiety was etched on his little face. He didn't understand what he had lost, didn't know how much cruelty had been directed at him personally; he only knew that for some reason, she was his friend, and she was unhappy. The fact that he was comforting her rather than the other way around tugged at her heart, but it also made her smile, and she returned his hug gratefully before setting out again, this time with a grim purpose, towards the airship. If he was going to be a long-term guest, she would have to make some effort to make him feel at home.

When the others eventually returned, Asami had managed to turn a pile of spare parts and scrap metal into a pair of crude toy Satomobiles and was scooting one across the floor making motor noises while the baby clutched the other and laughed.

 

_Dear Satobot,_

_That situation sounds really suspicious. Bandits attack in the middle of the night, okay, fine, I get that. They burn one house, kill one villager, and try to steal one baby? Aren't bandits usually in it for the money? That seems way too risky for a kidnap for ransom. They could be human traffickers, I guess, but that still can't be good for business. And the spirit wolf things are definitely weird. Are you sure you don't need any help? It all sounds like Avatar business to me._

_Today I didn't punch anyone with fire, even though they all deserved it. I did rearrange the conference room when everyone was at lunch – the whole place is stone and metal, and I think my design is much more practical than what they started with, but of course they didn't see it that way. Spoilsports. It made me feel better anyhow._

_I really, really, really, really, really miss you._

_All the love that's ever existed in the universe since the dawn of time, and then some,_

_Korra_

_P. S. Ha, try and beat that!_

Asami smiled as she folded Korra's latest letter and tucked it into her breast pocket. It was the morning of their third day in the village, and they had just finished eating breakfast and arguing about what they had learned the day before. The captive bandit had refused to talk about much more than what Asami had heard, though he appeared convinced that his leader was an invincible hero. The mayor, when pressed (literally, between two slabs of stone, by Bolin) had admitted that the baby was technically his grandson, but refused to admit to any wrongdoing in failing to acknowledge that earlier, and insisted that the child's father's death had been an unfortunate accident. He also maintained that the disappearance of his younger daughter's pet had nothing to do with the attack, which Bolin declared to be a ridiculous and utterly unwarranted claim.

“It's obvious, isn't it?” he demanded through a mouthful of cowpig bacon. “If the bandits could take an otter-squirrel without openly attacking, they could have taken the baby the same way. They wanted to frighten Mayor Chu, to be sure he wouldn't try a counterattack when they made their revenge hit. So they showed that they could get to the daughter he still cares about.”

“That's twisted, Bolin,” Ikki protested.

“It sounds like something out of a Detective Ho mover,” Opal agreed. (Detective Ho was a popular character who tracked down criminals by decoding cryptic clues. Bolin played the detective's trusty sidekick, a fact which had led to several fights between him and Mako over artistic license versus the proper way to be a detective.)

“I say we go find the bandits' hideout and try to spy on their plans,” Bolin went on, pointedly ignoring his comrades' attempts at wet-blanketing his schemes. “I'll dress up as an old lady and beg them for food, and then when they invite me in, I'll trick them into revealing their secrets.”

“What if they're not entirely wrong?” Asami asked, staring into space. “What if the townspeople really are Equalists who murdered Satoru's father?”

“Satoru?” Bolin said, momentarily distracted from his strategizing.

“Well, we don't know what his parents named him, and we can't just go on saying 'the baby' all the time,” Asami told him, blushing slightly.

“Satoru,” Opal mused, gazing thoughtfully at the baby, who was sitting contentedly on the floor playing with one of Asami's work gloves. “I like it.”

“Even if the bandits are right about the townspeople, that doesn't mean they were right to kill that woman,” Ikki pointed out.

“Of course they weren't!” Asami burst out angrily. “I just – I hate how – oh, forget it.”

The others exchanged glances; neither of the airbenders had ever heard the full story of Asami's past, despite years of acquaintance, but they both knew enough to have an idea of why she was so upset, and Bolin had been with her through some of the more painful moments. None of them knew what to say.

“I think Ikki and Opal should try to find the bandits from the air, as stealthily as possible,” Asami said eventually. “Then we can get a better idea of what we're dealing with here. I'd like to know how they got those spirit wolves.”


	5. In Which Opal is Captured and Asami Gets Serious

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Opal and Ikki's spying mission doesn't go so well. Fortunately, the bandits in the town prison give Asami a plan. Apparently, it involves getting captured.

By the time Ikki returned, the sun was setting. Asami and Bolin were eating dinner, clad in theoretically-fireproof smocks, goggles, and in Bolin's case bulky gloves; Satoru had accidentally firebent several times during the day, and Bolin had lost his eyebrows before Asami had decided to dig into her stash of protective gear. The little firebender had already been fed and was now busily digging through one of Asami's safer toolboxes. All three of them looked up when Ikki stumbled into the room, disheveled and breathless.

“Ikki!” Asami stood quickly and went to the young airbender's side. “Are you okay? What happened?”

“They've caught Opal!” Ikki panted. “I only just got away. You were right, Asami, there's something really wrong here.”

“They've WHAT?” Bolin bellowed, leaping up to grab Ikki by the shoulders, his face twisting into a rictus of horror.

“They've caught Opal,” Ikki repeated. “I'm sorry, Bolin! We had split up to explore different parts of the compound and I guess someone spotted her. I barely made it out.”

“This is terrible! What are we going to do?” Bolin wailed.

“Hear what Ikki has to tell us and figure out how to get Opal out based on that?” Asami suggested.

“How can you be so calm? They could be torturing her!”

“And if we go charging in to rescue her without knowing what's in there, they could get a chance to torture us,” Asami countered, sitting down on the floor next to Satoru, who was watching the grown-up drama around him with interest. “We'll rescue her, don't worry.”

“How am I supposed to not worry when my girlfriend's been captured by bad guys?” Bolin demanded.

Asami, who had lost track of how many times _her_ girlfriend had been captured by bad guys some time back, shook her head. “Please, Bolin. Ikki, what did you find?”

“They've got a compound out in the spirit wilds, like a little fort,” Ikki began. “It took us a while to find it because there's some kind of spirit magic protecting it, but I guess not all of the spirits are on their side, because we ran into a couple that led us to the compound. It's surrounded by traps, but actually getting in wasn't hard, because they didn't have any guards around it. There were some inside, blocking a couple of doors, but most of what's in there are spirits. There must be hundreds of them! They looked really unhappy. I think the bandits are enslaving them somehow. I do know they're going to attack again, though; I heard two of them talking about how the 'chief' wants to do another test run before 'the big one'.”

Asami absorbed this. “You didn't hear when this test run will be, did you?”

“No,” Ikki said regretfully. “Opal might know more, but....”

Asami nodded. “All right. I guess it's time to talk to our friend in prison again. You two watch Satoru, I'll be back soon.”

 

The talkative prisoner smirked at Asami when she approached the cell. “Hi there, city girl. Come to keep us company while we're waiting?”

“In a way,” Asami replied levelly. “You really think your chief will get you out of there, don't you?”

“I don't think it, I know it,” he retorted. “You don't think we'd let ourselves get captured otherwise, do you? With the laws they've got in this town?”

“Which laws?” Asami asked. “The laws about banditry?”

The man sneered. “Hanging for common bandits. Pretty standard. No. Haven't you realized there are no benders in this town? It's illegal. Penalties for crimes committed using bending are all way worse than for non-benders. I think bending bandits get boiled in oil, usually.”

Asami frowned at him. “What makes you so sure your chief can save you? Being boiled in oil seems like a big risk to take, and I don't see how you've benefited.”

“You haven't met our chief,” he told her. “He's got–“

“Hikaru!” interrupted the other bandit. She had remained stubbornly and completely silent before, but whatever her companion had been about to say must have been important.

“If he's that powerful, where's the danger in telling me?” Asami wheedled, mentally cursing the hitherto-silent prisoner.

“You'll find out soon enough, anyway,” the talkative one said cheerfully. “No point spoiling the surprise.” He shut his mouth firmly.

Asami considered this. Then she grinned at him. “You're right,” she said. “I will find out soon.” Turning, she left the prison. However unintentionally, the captive bandits had given her an idea.

 

That was how Asami wound up in the middle of the bandits' prison camp alongside Bolin and Opal, hands and feet shackled, with a bump on the side of her head and the bandit chief demanding that Bolin say who had sent them or something painful would happen to Opal or Asami or both. This vexed Asami, who was used to being viewed as a sidekick when Korra was around but really would have liked to get the credit for having led this particular expedition. So while Bolin tried to appease the bandit first with the story about the mayor's daughter's pet and nobody in the village wanting to help them and then with an absurd tale about lemurs, cabbages, and an old earthbending fortuneteller, Asami said nothing and looked around instead.

The bandits had thrown their prisoners into a cluttered storeroom, full of a motley collection of loot ranging from antique furniture and a large jade statue of a monkey-lion to a giant bale of what looked like towels and a rusty Satomobile. (One of Asami's favorite models of Satomobile, to be precise; she lost even more respect for the bandit leader when she saw the condition it was in.) There were cages in a corner of the room, one of which held what was presumably the mayor's daughter's otter-squirrel, while the occupant of another looked like it might have been the same octopus-rat-thing spirit Asami had spoken to before the bandit raid.

The bandits present were less interesting than their ill-gotten gains, and Asami, after looking them over briefly, concluded that most of them were just ordinary people who had been led either by circumstances or by force into their current life of crime, and were not profiting by it very much. The chief was the only one who stood out; his ragged suit and cape had evidently once been expensive and were in vibrant reds and oranges, and he wore a large amount of jewelry, predominantly gold with rubies, although a large silver pendant set with an elegantly-carved piece of blue jade dangled from a chain around his neck. He was burly and had a giant, villainous-looking mustache and no other hair; if he had worn a hat, he would have looked the picture of a swashbuckling pirate from a mover.

While Asami studied the bandit chief, he lost his temper, or made a show of pretending to do so, and hurled Bolin to the ground, shooting a fireball at the general vicinity of the earthbender's head. Then he shouted that they had better come up with some better stories before his next visit, and left, cape swirling dramatically. Asami gave him full points for theatrical skill; Bolin, she felt, could learn a few things from this man.


	6. In Which Asami Battles the Villain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Escaping from imprisonment in the bandits' lair and fighting their leader? Asami's handled far bigger challenges.

When the prisoners were alone, Bolin turned to Opal. “Opal! Honey! Are you okay?”

“I'm fine, Bolin,” Opal said soothingly. “How did you two get captured?”

“Asami said she had a plan, and I needed to go with her. I was so upset that you were here, I didn't even stop to ask her what it was! Then we walked right into their traps. Hey,” rounding on Asami, “what were you planning, anyway?”

“This, actually,” said Asami, grinning. The stupid bandits had cuffed her hands in front of her, and while they had confiscated her chi-blocker's glove, they hadn't thought to let her hair down from the tight bun she'd put it into before leaving. She reached up, pulled a hairpin carefully out of the bun, and set to work on the shackles on her wrists. They were cheaply made, and the locks offered hardly any resistance. When she'd freed her hands, she set to work on her feet, and then released Opal and Bolin. Then she crossed to the cages in the corner. The otter-squirrel was easy to free, and leaped onto her shoulder as soon as the cage door swung open, chattering into her ear. When she tried to free the spirit, however, the hairpin melted.

“Blast,” she said, dropping it quickly. “Sorry, little friend, it looks like I'll have to find another way to get you out.”

“Guards have special keys,” the spirit told her sadly.

“Why are you locked in here?” Asami asked it, kneeling to look into its eyes.

“Tried to warn you,” it said, even more sadly. “Bad, bad punishment.”

“How are the bandits controlling so many spirits?” Bolin demanded.

“Chief has a powerful artifact to make spirits slaves,” the spirit answered. “Spirits cannot resist without terrible pain.”

“That pendant,” Asami said.

“How did you guess that?” Opal asked, surprised. “I mean, you're probably right, I saw him hurting this one and he was playing with that pendant, but how did you know?”

“His clothes,” Asami responded promptly. “The only reasons someone who dresses like that, and in that many fire colors, would wear a blue jade pendant – especially when it clashes with the rest of his jewels – would be if the pendant had a lot of sentimental value or was useful in some way. Given he's got this special ability with spirits and he's leading a group of bandits that have been robbing and killing people in this area for years, I think usefulness is the most likely explanation.”

“Yes,” moaned the spirit. “Wicked gem is useful for him, bad for everyone else!”

“What's the plan now, Asami?” Bolin asked. “You did have more plan than just getting in here, right?”

“The next part was going to be getting Opal out, but since we know what's giving the bandit chief his power now, I think the plan needs an update,” Asami said grimly. “Let's find that guy and get rid of his special necklace.”

“Okay,” Bolin sounded doubtful. “But how are we going to get out of this storeroom?”

“Leave it to me,” Asami said, getting to her feet again and looking around the storeroom again.

 

Less than an hour later, the sound of an explosion rocked the building. Two guards tore open the door and raced inside, looking around frantically for the source. The otter-squirrel shot between them and disappeared out of sight. As the guards stared at the smoking, flaming skeleton of the Satomobile in which Asami had detonated her crude explosive, she dropped down from the bale of towels and hit them both with improvised chi-blocking devices. They tumbled to the ground, stunned, and Bolin and Opal pounced. While Bolin shackled the two bandits together, Opal relieved them of their keys and headed over to free the imprisoned spirit, which promptly leaped from its cage and scurried over to Asami.

“This way, friends!” it cried. “Hurry!”

They followed the octopus-rat-thing, fighting their way through groups of bewildered and disoriented bandits, to a long, low building against the side of the compound. They charged recklessly in, ready to fight; Bolin slammed a stone barrier up behind them, blocking the doorway. Then they saw a mass of spirits and the bandit chief, who was lounging casually in a thronelike chair against the far wall.

“Idiots,” he told them, shaking his head as if disappointed. “You could have run, but you had to play the heroes. Now you'll learn the depth of your mistake.”

Dramatics again, Asami thought. Well, two could play that game. She raised her hand, pointing at him theatrically. “You're the one who's going to learn a lesson here, miscreant! You may be powerful enough to frighten these villagers, but you can't frighten us!”

“Yeah!” Bolin cried. “Your days of tyranny are over! We're taking you down!”

“Really?” the bandit sounded amused. He was fondling the gemstone at his throat. “I think not.” He made a gesture, and two large dark spirits stepped forward, growling.

Asami snorted. “Pathetic,” she said disdainfully. “Hiding behind your spirit minions instead of fighting your own battles? No wonder you're still no more than a petty bandit. I don't know how you get humans to follow you, never mind spirits.”

“Insolent girl!” The bandit chief rose to his feet, cloak swirling and billowing behind him. “You call me a coward? You think to challenge Takeshi the Conqueror?” He gestured. In another instant, Bolin and Opal were pinned against a wall by spirit tentacles, and Asami was alone in a circle of spirits with the bandit chief. He unfastened his cloak and tossed it dramatically over his shoulder, then dropped into a fighting crouch. “So be it. I need no spirit powers to defeat you!”

Asami dodged quickly to one side as the bandit sent a burst of flames at her. She leaped forward, kicking him hard in the chest and sending him staggering backwards. He came back with another shot at her; she ducked and came up with a punch that knocked him down into his chair. Her mind was racing. If she beat him and didn't break his control over the spirits, he would simply set them on her; without Bolin and Opal, she would have a much harder time getting or destroying the pendant, but that was the only way to win. She still had a chi-blocker, but she didn't know how the spirits would react if she used it, and she could probably take him down without it; his firebending thus far was barely more threatening than Satoru's, and she was used to training with Korra and Mako.

The bandit rose, looking furious, and threw a sustained stream of fire at her. She barely managed to get out of the way in time. She circled, keeping ahead of the flames, waiting for a chance to get closer. He cut the fire abruptly and sent a blast at her from one of his feet, catching her off-guard; she fell with a yelp and rolled, feeling glad that she had kept her fireproof smock on and wishing it also worked against heat. (She made a mental note to design a line of fully fireproof garments when this was over.) She managed to get to her feet again before the bandit could strike again, but before she could do more he had grabbed her and was pinning her hands behind her back. She'd known how to deal with that since she was eight. She twisted flipped him forward over her shoulder. As he landed, she tore her hands from his grasp and grabbed at the chain around his neck, ripping it from him in a swift motion.

The spirits went berserk, growing and twisting into new and terrifying shapes. All around her they hissed and roared and howled, breaking ranks to press towards her and the bandit at her feet. He scrambled up, turned, and lunged for her, knocking her to the floor and landing heavily on top of her, scrabbling to try to retrieve the pendant as she fought to keep it away from him. She could see nothing but the wild spirits and the bandit's frantic face, but she could feel his hands clutching at her arms, which she had extended above her head, and she knew that if she gave him any time, he would reclaim the pendant. Opal and Bolin were lost in the mass of spirits somewhere, in no position to help her, so she did the only thing she could think of: she threw the pendant as hard as she could into the teeming crowd of spirits.

There was a blinding flash of light. The bandit screamed horribly, and Asami could feel him writhing. Then the building exploded around them, and she knew nothing more.


	7. In Which Korra Provides Counseling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The bandits are beaten, but there are still some serious problems to work out. Fortunately, Korra's on hand to dispense some Avatar wisdom.

Once again, Asami was awoken by Satoru climbing on her, babbling incomprehensibly. She blinked in confusion. How had she gotten back to the airship? Or had she only dreamed about her trip to the bandit hideout? Was she dreaming now? She looked around, trying to make sense of her surroundings, and saw the sleeping form of Korra pressed against the wall on the bunk beside her. This confused her so much that she could only gape wordlessly at the sleeping Avatar.

As though she sensed Asami's stare, Korra woke, stretching her arms and yawning. She smiled at Asami. “You're awake! How do you feel?”

“What happened?” Asami said blankly.

“We were hoping you could answer that,” Korra told her wryly. “Ikki said you and Bolin went to rescue Opal, and then there was some kind of explosion and suddenly there were a lot more spirits around. She was trying to get the villagers to go find out what had happened when this big purple rat-squid spirit carried you, Opal, and Bolin into town and said the danger was over, put you all down and left. Opal and Bolin woke up yesterday, and they said you challenged the bandit chief to single combat, but they didn't see how it actually ended.”

“I took the artifact he was using to control the spirits and gave it to them instead,” Asami said.

“I see,” said Korra, and Asami thought she probably did. “Well, it looks like you've ended the threat from that group of bandits; it looks like most of them ran away, and we picked up a few who were injured when we went to investigate their camp. I, uh, healed them and let them go, to tell you the truth. Opal says the penalty for banditry here is being boiled in oil, and that's not something I want to inflict on anyone.”

“No,” Asami said, feeling suddenly cold. What penalty had she inflicted on the bandit chief?

Satoru chose this moment to try to climb off the bunk, and Asami quickly caught him and lowered him to the floor.

“Someone wants his breakfast,” Korra commented, sitting up. “I'll take care of that. Want me to bring you some?”

Asami shook her head and got out of the bunk herself, ignoring her body's protests. The mention of food had made her realize both that she was ravenously hungry and that she desperately needed to use the bathroom. “Just take care of Satoru. I'll join you.”

Korra nodded and rolled smoothly out of the bunk, reaching down to offer her hand to the toddler. “Come on, Satobot Junior, let's go get food.”

Asami paused in the bathroom doorway. “ _Satobot Junior_?”

“Yeah,” Korra said, meeting her eyes squarely. “From what the others told me, and the fact that you named him after your grandfather, and how your energy connects with his – well, I didn't think I'd ever have to worry about how to explain to my parents that we have a surprise baby, but I'll figure it out.”

Asami laughed, though she felt dazed. “Seriously? All the impossible things you've been able to do with hitherto-unknown special Avatar abilities, and you never planned for the possibility of one or both of us getting pregnant?”

“You mean you did?” Korra sounded incredulous.

“I figured it's always better to have a plan,” Asami smiled sweetly.

It was Korra's turn to laugh. “That's like you. Well, maybe I'll let you break the news to my parents, then.”

“I'd be happy to,” Asami said, then hesitated. “You... you're okay with this?”

“It caught me off-guard,” Korra admitted. “But I can't not be okay with it. I mean, how hard-hearted would I have to be to reject this little cutie?” She indicated the baby, who was trying unsuccessfully to open the door, and added softly, “besides, I wanted us to have a family together eventually. I just thought it would be, you know, planned out.”

Asami looked at Satoru soberly. “Yeah, that's how I feel too.”

“Asami,” Korra said gently as Asami turned away again. Asami looked back at her inquiringly. “The bandits I let go said their chief had been planning to wipe out the entire town and use them as an example. He was going to use an army of spirit slaves to try to conquer the world. Sooner or later they would have broken free and turned on him. You just made it happen sooner than it would have, and that probably saved a lot of innocent lives. Don't let yourself feel too guilty about it.”

“There ought to have been a better solution,” Asami protested, not bothering to ask how Korra had known what was wrong. “You would have found a way to stop him without letting him get killed.”

“Maybe, maybe not.” Korra shrugged. “I don't always work things out right, you know. It's no use beating yourself up about it, anyway. Just try to learn from it and do better next time.” Satoru tugged on her hand impatiently and said something that sounded almost like “breakfast”. The Avatar grinned at the baby. “Sorry, Satoru. Let's go get breakfast and save the Avatar wisdom session for later.”

 

Half an hour later, Asami felt a lot better physically and was almost up to speed on what was going on in the village. The villagers, whether because of the devastation left in the bandits' compound or because of the presence of the all-powerful Avatar, were now terrified of the entire team. On the other hand, the mayor had evidently decided the safest approach was to be friendly, and accordingly had written an official proclamation declaring Asami a hero of the people, though he conspicuously failed to mention any of the benders who had helped her. His surviving daughter was happy to have her otter-squirrel back, and all the villagers were relieved to know that the bandit threat was ended, though they were less happy about the hordes of (now more or less friendly) spirits now gathered in and around the town.

The two captive bandits were due to stand trial in a few days' time, and it was a foregone conclusion that they would be found guilty. Both of them had been horribly upset to learn of their leader's defeat; the talkative one, Hikaru, had cried and screamed, and his more stoic comrade had wept quietly. Asami felt quietly miserable when she heard this; while Hikaru was a murderer and his companion might easily be one as well, the thought of seeing them boiled in oil was more than she could stand for.

“We need to do something about them,” Bolin said, thoughts evidently running parallel to hers. “I know they're bad people, but they shouldn't die like that.”

“We should bust them out,” Ikki said eagerly. “Someone can distract the guards, and then I'll sneak in–“

“No, Ikki,” Korra said firmly. “Not unless we have to.”

“We can't let them be killed,” Asami was equally firm. “The laws here are messed up. It shouldn't make a difference if a bandit is a bender or not, and people shouldn't be boiled in oil or hanged.”

“I'm not saying that,” Korra said. “I'm just saying we need to do better than just brute force. We won't fix the issues between benders and non-benders here if we just break them out, and it's not right to let them get away with what they did either.”

“So what are you suggesting we do?” Asami demanded.

“I've been thinking about this, actually,” Korra looked at her squarely. “Asami, why didn't you join the Equalists?”

“What?” Asami stared at her in bafflement. “I wouldn't have ever been an Equalist!”

“You could have,” Korra was maddeningly calm. “You turned against your father, the person you loved the most in the world, to protect a bunch of benders. You didn't know any of us very well, even though you were dating Mako, and you'd been very angry with me and Lin and Tenzin before you found out your father was an Equalist. So why do it?”

“I didn't have to know you that well to know you didn't deserve what Amon wanted to do to you!” Asami protested.

“Take away our bending? You've never had bending and you were fine with it.”

“But that's just it. I never had bending. It's not who I am. For all of you – it's part of your identity. I remember how horrible it was for you when Amon did take away your bending, even though he didn't get your airbending. I knew it would be. Bending is – it's who you are, and it really was who you were back then–” Asami broke off, confused. “Why am I even telling you this? You know it already!”

“It's important,” Korra told her. “Why take in Satoru?”

“What was I supposed to do? Let him be taken away by that bandit? Make someone in the town take him when they all treat him like he's got a horrible disease?”

“He's a firebender,” Korra's voice was neutral.

“There's nothing wrong with being a firebender!” Asami felt like none of this conversation was making sense.

“A firebender killed your mother,” Korra was still expressionless, watching Asami's face intently.

“A gang member killed my mother because her life meant less to him than profit did,” Asami said coldly. “He might have used firebending to do it, but he didn't do it because he was a firebender.”

“Your father didn't think that way.”

“My father was... broken. He was hurting so badly, he couldn't see other people's humanity any more....” Asami's voice trailed off as she realized what Korra was getting at. “That's what's wrong in this town, isn't it? Everyone's too scared of benders to see them as people any more.”

“Partly,” Korra smiled approvingly. “But it's never that simple. One of the bandits I dealt with called non-benders 'filth', and I know why. I've looked at the history of this region. Under the Fire Nation, firebenders were the upper class, then non-benders from the Fire Nation, then everyone from the Earth Kingdom. When the Republic took over, earthbenders became the new elite, but firebenders held on to a lot of power. Non-benders finally started to make it into government in the last twenty years or so. The Equalists radicalized them and the benders were driven out or went into hiding, but the reason they were so easy to radicalize is that they really were oppressed, and the structures that should have helped them – the local government, the Republic, Aang, the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom – didn't. I know how you feel about Equalists; I'm guessing you identify with Satoru because you both lost your families to the same conflict. But _you_ can't forget _they're_ people too.”

Asami stared into the distance. “We all grow up hearing stories about people who did great things with and without bending....”

“Maybe they stopped telling those stories,” Korra suggested.

“We've seen that humans and spirits can learn to live together. How hard can it be for humans to learn to live with other humans?”

“Given that so much of the Republic was once Fire Nation colonies where Earth Kingdom citizens were oppressed, and now people mostly get along no matter where their families were from? It might be hard, but it's not impossible.”

“No,” Asami said, and smiled. “Excuse me. I have to see the mayor.”


	8. Epilogue: In Which Justice is Done and Proposals are Made

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asami takes advantage of her status as a local hero to work some minor miracles.

“So let me get this straight,” Bolin spread his hands wide. “You managed to get the town council to agree to sit down with those two bandits and listen to them....”

“Yes,” said Asami.

“You made them sit absolutely silently while the bandits told their life stories, and then you made the bandits sit silently while the council members told theirs, and you kept asking them questions....”

“Yes?”

“And after a few days, that tough bandit lady and the mayor were hugging each other and crying together, and the council had agreed to get rid of the anti-bending laws?”

“Yes,” Asami confirmed.

“And then you got them to let the spirits participate in the trial?”

“The bandits hurt the spirits more than the humans, here,” Asami argued.

“Still. Community service in the spirit world is an unprecedented sentence,” Opal observed.

“I think it's fitting,” Asami said cheerfully.

“Why am I the one whose job is diplomacy?” Korra asked her. “I spent four days with a bunch of government officials and I couldn't get them to agree about fishing rights. You spent the same amount of time with a bunch of government officials and a pair of hardened criminals, and you made them forget they hated each other.”

“Well, not entirely,” Asami said. “The mayor said he'd agree to do the trial the way I recommended on the condition that I take Satoru away with me. Fast-tracked the adoption paperwork, actually.”

Korra frowned. “So... you're going to be Satoru's legal mother, then?”

“Only married couples can adopt jointly,” Asami explained. “I figured it's easier for me to adopt him first and then we can talk about that.”

Korra blushed. “I _really_ don't know how I'll explain to my parents that I had to get married because my girlfriend had an unexpected baby....”

“That part's all right,” Asami grinned at her. “I told them last month I was planning to propose. Satoru's the only surprise they'll have.”

“You were planning to propose?” Korra's eyebrows shot up.

“When you'd finished the diplomacy job. I had your dad tell me how to make a betrothal necklace for you,” Asami confirmed, producing a small box from her pocket and opening it to reveal its contents. “I know it's a Northern tradition, but he's from the North, and I couldn't figure out how to design a ring that would stand up to how much you like punching things....”

“How do you always beat me to this stuff?” Korra demanded, pulling a box out of _her_ pocket. “I made this ring while I was sitting in those boring sessions....” They stared at each other.

Satoru looked blankly at the big people around him. He didn't know why they were doing it, but he joined in as they all laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was introduced to the technique of making people listen to each other without speaking for a fixed amount of time as a way of helping them build empathy and overcome prejudices by a friend who does work in prisons. It is effective, though of course nothing's a perfect cure.
> 
> The community service in the spirit world is, of course, a nod to the Avatar: The Last Airbender episode "Avatar Day", where Aang is sentenced to be boiled in oil, but has his sentence commuted to community service when the Fire Nation attacks. It's perhaps a little silly, but I liked it better than any of the other ways I came up with to deal with the bandits.


End file.
